T’is the season and last year the hubs bought Little Monkey a princess advent calendar and the two of them enjoyed their little treats on a near daily basis. Which got me thinking about holiday gifting and treating those near and far with a little surprise. I found some cool advent calendar ideas and there’s no shortage of ideas on pinterest but my challenge was keeping the costs relatively low and making some light enough to post within Canada. So here’s some ideas if you’re looking to create something fun for the food and drink lover in your life.
24 Craft Beers (or any drinks in bottles). Definitely one for the locals and not one you can mail.
This is the easiest one to do. Grab two wine boxes from your local booze store and stock it with 24 different brews. Ensure you label the top of the caps with numbers 1 to 24 and you’re done! I really wanted to do this for the hubs but the guy kept going to the LCBO and stocking up his own supply. Next year I’m going to buy a bottle at each city we visit and hide them until December 1st! With many seasonal ales out throughout the year, this is a fun one for any craft beer lover.
24 Teas (or anything in packet format)
I totally got this idea from the David’s Tea advent calendar and truth be told… it may be cheaper to just buy theirs and save yourself the hassle of making your own. However, if you’re looking to create one yourself buy 24 tiny envelopes (think gift card size) and either drop in individual packets of tea or grab loose tea and slot them into tiny zip lock bags. Number each envelope and put them in a gift box. Easy right?
What I ended up with was a mix of things
I alternated chocolate every other day so that there’s plenty of sweet treats to get them through the week. Which meant that 12 days were done! The hardest part was covering the chocolates and for some I just placed the number right on the chocolate and others I popped into mesh bags. No matter what type of advent calendar you create you’ll want to print out the numbers and there’s many templates online you can download for a fee…or you can just type them up yourself like I did and print them out. Cutting the circles was a bit of a pain but nothing a glass of alcoholic chocolate milk by my side couldn’t ease 😉 . Between Target, Home Sense and the many pop markets in town I was able to gather most items at a very reasonable price and on average spent about $40 per calendar. I made ten of these so yes it was pricey, but given that it’s the holiday season and that most of them wouldn’t get another gift, I thought it was justifiable.
Here’s a list of the items we included :
- Starbucks and Tim Hortons gift cards
- Mini alcohol bottles (Ice Wine and Baileys was popular)
- Scratch cards (some of them have fruits and random food items to scratch off)
- Mini hot sauce
- Mini jams
- Lip balms with food flavours (Chocolate pie anyone?)
- Candy Books ( Skittles and Lifesaver has some cute ones for the season)
- Salt ( found some cute test tube salt spices at Home Sense)
- Christmas ornaments (Target has everything from a pickle to a wine bottle!)
- Tea packs ( love the Tea India ones)
- Spice packets (we tossed in the Patak’s cooking sauce packs)
- Fruit shaped sponges
- Creams/lotions with food scents (Love the Ginger Souffle from Origins!)
Mix things up and have fun with it. You can slot these into coffee cups, matchboxes, toilet paper rolls or just gift wrap them. I tried a variety of methods and each person got a different type of calendar. Next year I plan to make one for Little Monkey and Baby Boy and pretty sure I can find plenty of items at the dollar store that will keep them entertained each day. I know some parents who like to put in 24 activities and they do them as a family. SO fun!
Now…who wants to make one for me and what would you like in your advent calendar?
Robin (Masshole Mommy)
November 25, 2014 at 11:31 amWhen I was a kid, we always had ones with chocolate. I love the idea of using teas.
Yashy
November 25, 2014 at 2:16 pmI think the tea ones are quite cool too! Would encourage me to wind down with a tea each night, and that’s a good thing!
Jeanine
November 25, 2014 at 2:09 pmThis is neat! We always get the ones with the chocolate that tastes disgusting like cardboard!
Yashy
November 25, 2014 at 2:16 pmI know the ones you’re talking about!
Mitch
November 25, 2014 at 3:15 pmWow, you worked hard on this! I have one more gift to buy, for my son. You have a lot more energy than me!
Yashy
November 25, 2014 at 6:57 pmlol… my husband did say I was crazy!
Liz Mays
November 25, 2014 at 5:07 pmDoing a calendar for teas or coffees sounds really good. One for every morning and maybe an extra to try again later.
Dawn
November 25, 2014 at 6:40 pmThis is really cool! I have never gotten the chance to do one of these calendars, but I would love to!
Shell
November 25, 2014 at 6:57 pmThis is such a great idea. Celebrating the season of advent can be even more fun with the creation of your own Advent calendar.
Shell
November 25, 2014 at 7:13 pmI really like the tea idea! I’d never turn down chocolate, either.
Debra
November 25, 2014 at 7:57 pmWhat a clever idea. I’ve only ever seen ones with chocolates and LEGO figures. This is a great advent calendar for adults to get into the spirit as well!
kristin
November 25, 2014 at 11:14 pmWhat a great list made. We do lots of chocolate. ill have to steal some off your list.
Yashy
November 25, 2014 at 11:50 pmSteal away!
Melinda
November 26, 2014 at 8:00 amI don’t remember ever doing an advent calendar growing up. I want to do it now but with 2 younger kids how do I divide up the “gifts”
Yashy
November 26, 2014 at 2:05 pmYou could have everyone alternate days they open a gift on.. or.. make one for each kid 😉
Melissa @ This Girl's Life Blog
November 26, 2014 at 11:09 amI love to do unique advents. This year we are doing a lego one. 🙂
Amanda
November 26, 2014 at 12:51 pmI love this idea! I would love a wine advent calendar! 😉
Yashy
November 27, 2014 at 12:47 amMe too! I know quite a few people who’d like one!
Tiffany (A Mom's Take)
November 26, 2014 at 1:26 pmI adore the idea of a food and wine advent calendar. What a fabulous idea.
Cynthia Wheeler
November 26, 2014 at 3:51 pmOK, teas…BRILLIANT idea! We used to have chocolate every year…perhaps tea and chocolate this year 😉
Yashy
November 27, 2014 at 12:46 amDo it! Let us know how it comes along
Krystal's Kitsch
November 26, 2014 at 4:19 pmI want to do a beer advent calendar this year. My husband would love it!
Yashy
November 27, 2014 at 12:46 amShare pictures with us!
Tracey
November 26, 2014 at 4:38 pmYou must have worked really hard on this. It turned out amazing!
Yashy
November 27, 2014 at 12:46 amThanks Tracey!
Debbie
November 26, 2014 at 5:07 pmThat is such a neat idea. Very traditional and updated as well.
Yashy
November 27, 2014 at 12:46 amI thought so too!LOL
Ann Bacciaglia
November 26, 2014 at 5:25 pmThese are all great ideas for advent calendars. I like the Tea one.
Amy Desrosiers
November 26, 2014 at 9:33 pmI love that you mixed things up! Always fun to add a different sweet treat.
Rosey
November 26, 2014 at 10:22 pmI think a Lego advent calendar would be fun. I’ve never had one, I’m overdue and was just saying we should get or make one.
Kiwi
November 27, 2014 at 12:19 amI am inspired! I never thought to make a food and drink advent calender so thanks for the tips!
Christie
November 28, 2014 at 1:22 amThese are great advent filler ideas! I’m always looking for special treats to add to mine!
Tonia
November 30, 2014 at 9:10 amI love a good advent calendar. One with food and/or drink is considered VERY good to me. lol
Toni
December 4, 2014 at 6:34 amWhat a great way to countdown to Christmas. My kids would love this, I will have to do it next year.
Melkenza
December 4, 2014 at 12:16 pmA mixed up advent calendar… it’s a great idea!
Darlene W
December 6, 2014 at 11:06 amwhat great ideas and so much fun either putting them together or opening them up
Amy Lovell
December 11, 2014 at 6:22 amSuch a neat advent calendar! Thanks!
Victoria Ess
December 15, 2014 at 12:10 pmI love this idea, especially with tea!
loucheryl
December 15, 2014 at 8:20 pmI know what my son would want….HOT WHEELS!
nicoleroannef
March 28, 2015 at 8:50 amI would have to refrigerate my beer themed one for the boyfriend 🙂
Yashy
March 29, 2015 at 10:59 pmhahah I really need to get on this for this year’s one!!! I haven’t stocked up on anything yet and we’re already into month 4!! EGAD!!